Meditation Tactics That Get You Ripped

Yes, You Can Meditate And Build Muscle At The Same Time

Want to find your Zen state? Get in a fight. Because nothing fosters a meditative mind better than standing across from someone trying to kick your head off of your shoulders.

I would get all kinds of looks I used to get when I told people that my Muay Thai sparring (kickboxing) was my way of achieving Zen. But it's true. If the mind, with its erratic jumping thoughts, is like a tree full of monkeys, and the goal of Zen is to get all of the monkeys on one branch (i.e. singular focus), then participating in an activity that absolutely requires your complete and entire focus — unless you like the taste of someone's shin, chased with a short nap — is a fast route to Zen. All of the day's upsets, tomorrow's worries, anticipations, judgments, and to-do lists simply disappear as punches, kicks and knees start to fly. (For the hardcore Zen-sters out there, I'm using a looser definition, so take a chill pill...or go meditate.)

I frequently encounter those who know I have studied mindfulness and transcendental meditation, who then share how they "find it impossible to meditate." Honestly, if you find it that difficult, stop trying to meditate! I don't believe in square-peg-round-hole solutions, so if focusing on your breathing or repeating a mantra just doesn't seem to be working, let's try something else. There are other ways to achieve this state. And none of them actually involved getting punched so if you already started buying a mouthguard and gloves, that's not where I'm going with this.

Here are three ways to turn your workout into a meditation practice:

Lift Heavy

Mindlessly cranking away reps on a leg extension machine while you're feverishly swiping right on Tinder does nothing for your physique, mind, or love life for the matter. My purpose of telling you to ramp up the intensity and poundage isn't to get you better results in the gym (though it will, and may also improve your dating prospects). Remember, our goal here is to create singular focus. When you lift weights that are light enough to blow away on a windy day, not only are your muscles not challenged, neither is your mind — and certainly not in the way we want it. When you lift heavy weights, you must be absolutely focused on your body position, breathing, technique, and exertion of energy. When you are lifting something that is truly heavy, there is no room for any other thought than executing the lift properly. If you break focus, you just might break your back — and then you'll really have something to focus on.

Even though this state is temporary when lifting — you are only in this singularly focused state while executing your reps, not during rests — I personally find that it has a pretty remarkable after-effect. It's also a highly accessible way for Type-A guys to get a meditative taste they might otherwise never get due to the very nature of their personalities.

Go For A Run

It's easy to go for a run and let the mind wander. After all, many people run for this very purpose — to just "zone out." I'm hardly criticizing this. If it works for you, great. But for our purposes, zoning out and jumping from thought to thought, through our stream of consciousness, is the opposite of what we're trying to accomplish.

One of the ways to change this and have a truly meditative experience is to lock in on the rhythm of your breathing. I am not at all suggesting that you try to manipulate your breathing pattern in any way, but instead to passively just note it. You may even notice that the cadence of your stride and breathing may start to harmonize or meld together, but this isn't something we're trying to accomplish. The most important element is to just simply stay focused on your breathing — it's depth, sound, rate, etc. And of course don't completely lose focus of everything else, especially if you're running outside, you know, because there’s cars.

Walk Really Slowly

This is a great rest or recovery day tactic. (Sidenote: I think walking is one of the best active recovery strategies, and most of us — even if we're active — don't walk enough.) The object here is very simple; walk as slowly as possible without losing forward momentum or stopping. I know this sounds ridiculously easy, but it's quite a challenge. Any time I do this I'm practically speed walking when I start compared to when I finish. There is nothing more to focus on here other than taking your time. Try walking with your hands clasped behind your lower back. It can be helpful since it eliminates the arm swing that is usually a part of your normal walking pattern.

You'll notice that these three different strategies have the same common thread (a singular focus), but at very different intensity levels. This way, you can either pick the one that suits your exercise style best, or even better, use each of these over the course of a week to change things up.